Thousands of pro-Russian protesters assaulted Odessa's police headquarters Sunday, days after deadly clashes and a fire there killed dozens of their comrades in what Kiev charged was a Russian plot to "destroy Ukraine."

The U.S. military has begun war games in the nation of Georgia, an exercise reportedly planned for months, but which comes just days after Russia announced it will spend half a billion dollars refurbishing its own military bases and strengthening its hold on Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia.

Despite calls from international officials late in the week urging Russia to hold its fire against neighboring Georgia, Russian forces showed no sign of backing off over the weekend, nor had the United Nations managed to make headway in curbing the conflict. Update